Click! Click! Click!

I fought the urge to wince as Masumi's heels sounded against the floor, echoing throughout the halls of our newly finished home. The noise bounced easily off the white linoleum floors and bare gray walls to ultimately reach the entranceway where I stood in wait.

After making a few drastic changes to the house my father designed, Madara and Masumi finally had the construction finished and we'd quickly relocated to our new home, if you can call it that. The design changes were so different from what Dad had told me about.

What was supposed to be a warm and welcoming new place to live and grow now looked like a glorified office. The walls were painted a variety of shades of gray and the floor was a stark white tile, even in the family room and bedrooms. No family pictures dusted the walls throughout the house, modern art and shelves hung there instead.

I stood as still as a statue under Madara's trained gaze as person after person entered the front door and took their place near me. Masumi finally entered the room, clipboard in hand, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek at her ridiculous getup. She wore a business suit with a skirt and had her hair tied back into a calm ponytail at the nape of her neck. I could feel my face redden as I fought to control both my disbelief and anger. Just who is she trying to fool?

My attention was pulled back to Madara as I noticed him narrow his eyes at me to her right. I quickly averted my gaze to the ground, albeit with a glare and clenched teeth. The skin on my upper arm burnt under my shirt.

Two days ago, he'd squeezed so hard that he'd left a hand shaped bruise. This is while he was threatening to hurt my sister if I don't do exactly as he and Masumi say, of course.

~The Previous Night~

I stood from my desk when the door to my room creaked open slowly. Usually, I'd have my headphones in, but since the lock was taken from my door, I can't let myself be caught off guard.

To my disdain, Madara slipped silently into the room, closing the door behind him. I took a step to the side and slowly moved my desk chair in between us as I glared up at him, "What are you doing in here?"

The man put his hands up in defense with an easy-going grin, "I just came to have a chat with you about what happened at dinner."

He and Masumi had come clean about the fact that they're dating at dinner and both Hanabi and I had given them a few choice words about the fact. Of course, I'd known from the first time he'd spent the night under the guise of looking out for his late best friend's family as they grieved that something wasn't right. Catching Masumi riding him like an electric bull on the couch when they thought my sister and I were asleep sure didn't help their case either.

I shook my head at the tall man, disgusted that he'd even consider coming to talk to me about it, "I have nothing to say to you. My father taught me to hold my tongue if I have nothing nice to say." I put an emphasis on the word father so he'd know that I was definitely still angry.

Madara let out a wry chuckle before pulling the chair out of my grasp, making me jump at his sudden movement. He smirked as he turned it around to sit, gesturing for me to take a seat on the side of the bed, obviously aware that he was making me nervous. Gingerly, I did as he requested.

He didn't hesitate to start speaking, but he didn't talk about his relationship with Masumi, which caught me off guard. "You will be taking part in The Program."

I opened my mouth to argue, but he raised a finger to shush me as he continued, "You're to tell nobody about your relationship to Masumi or I and you're to do your best. We expect you to be the top ranked student with no excuses."

I angrily stood from my bed, my hands in fists as I failed to control my temper, "You can't do this to me! I refuse!" The plans I'd made about leaving home immediately for college were quickly slipping through my fingers.

In an instant, the man was on his feet and had his large hand wrapped around my arm, his grip tightening as he leaned down to look into my eyes, "I will kill Hanabi if you so much as think about misbehaving."

The blood drained from my face and my voice shook as I bargained with him, "You don't mean that."

His grip tightened harder and I winced with tears in my eyes. He held my gaze hard for another few moments before speaking in his usual deep voice, "Let's hope you don't have to find out."

After another moment, he released his grip on me and pushed his long hair out of his face, his charismatic grin reappearing on his handsome face, "I'm glad we've come to an understanding."

I glanced back up at my unassuming step-mother, swallowing hard as I accepted the fact that she either doesn't know about his threat or doesn't care. I don't know which would be worse.

For what felt like an hour, and very well may have been, I stood in silence among my new peers as they whispered and introduced themselves to each other, too uncomfortable to interact with any of them. The front doors must've opened and closed more than twenty times and soon, it seemed that everyone had been marked off on Masumi's checklist.

She and Madara approached the group, which naturally hushed as they realized we were about to be addressed.

"I want to start off by congratulating each and every one of you for being accepted into The Program!"

There was a small pause in his words to allot for the groups various sounds of excitement, before he continued, "You've been carefully selected out of over a hundred applicants."

My mind reeled as he continued on, talking about how we'll each have the opportunity to earn one hundred thousand dollars: untaxed. My father's life insurance policy was no doubt top notch, but it wouldn't be so great that they could offer that much money to any one of these people without raising red flags somewhere out there. My lips twitched as I tried not to be obvious with my frown. It must be yet another one of their lies.

Madara explained that The Program is a type of camp or summer school that will train us both mentally and physically for a variety of situations. Everyone involved is either older than eighteen or their guardians have signed waivers of permission. Murmurs started up from around me and I wondered what everyone here had been told that The Program was so they'd sign up with little to no questions asked. Honestly, though, a lot of people will agree to almost anything if the price is right and they're desperate enough.

He was smart enough to keep his description short so as to not scare anyone away and quickly moved on to the next topic, "Bunking: This is a co-ed program and you'll not be separated by gender, however there are many cameras for your security and if you're caught doing anything inappropriate the punishment will be severe."

The room was silent for a moment as everyone was no doubt trying to figure out if he was serious, and if so just how serious he was. Wasting no time, he continued, "The showers and bathrooms are separated by curtains and stalls. Again, if anyone is caught doing something they shouldn't be, there will be punishment."

He continued before anyone could interrupt, "You'll be provided with food and clothing the entire time you're here, but you will not get to decide your meals or clothing as those factor into some of the testing we'll be doing."

I was beginning to picture what the ad for this camp-type program must've looked like. It probably had something about testing experimental techniques and medicines for a large sum of cash.

Madara took a long pause as he looked over the group I stood amidst before smiling that charming grin of his and putting his arms out calmly from his sides, "I would like to give each of you a chance to opt out of The Program now, as once you've entered you will not be permitted to leave until it is finished. This is one of the clauses in the contracts either you or your guardian has signed."

The room was silent for a few moments and when no one moved a muscle, he clapped his hands together, eyes locking onto mine confidently as he spoke to us all, "Let's get started."